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Family Ministry - We are UU – All Day, Every Day

“The world of church is changing. And why not?The world of medicine is changing. The world of journalism is changing. The way we govern, teach, communicate, learn, the way we buy and read books is changing. There’s no good reason to believe that changes would not also impact the way we understand worship and Sunday School and every other aspect of congregational life.”Full Week Faith, a project of the Fahs Collaborative at Meadville Lombard UU Seminary

We are UU – All Day, Every Day

Family ministry – what does it mean? One of the things it means is this: providing resources to support families in raising Unitarian Universalist children and teens. It’s often a struggle to make it to church every Sunday. And even if you do, that’s still only an hour or two out of the week. Children, teens, and families want and need ways to live our values and principles in their everyday lives. After all, being Unitarian Universalist isn’t just something that happens on Sunday mornings. It’s part of who you are.

As the UUA website says, “Religious education can helpus grow in faith, at any age. Yet faith development happens outside of our faith communities, too...especially at home. Parents and caregivers are our children's primary religious educators, and not only because we give explanations and advice. Every day, we model attitudes toward faith, meaning, and purpose that children will notice and copy.” This is true for families of all configurations, with or without children at home. Our attitudes towards faith, meaning, and purpose drive our decisions about how we spend our money, what we do with our leisure time, how we participate in our democracy – virtually every aspect of our lives.

As we move towards family ministry, expect to see more resources for use at home. We’ve already added a “Taking it Home” sheet in one of our classes. We’ll be adding Facebook posts and emails about living our faith. And at the end of this article, I’m pointing you towards some wonderful resources available through our denominational offices. Stay tuned for more! Feel free to talk with me about what other things would be helpful to you. We are Unitarian Universalist – all day, every day – and our church stands in support of your ongoing quest to do and be and learn more, every day, all your life long.

Sunday and Every Day: My Little Book of Unitarian Universalism (ages 5-12, $5)

A Cup of Light: All About the Flaming Chalice (ages 5- 9, with illustrations to color, $5)

Everybody is Important: A Kids’ Guide to our Seven Principles (ages 5-7, with examples of how to live our values in everyday life, $6)

Three books for ages 7-11 about Unitarian Universalist beliefs on important topics: About Right and Wrong, About Death, and About God (ages 7-11, $14.95 each)

Come Sing a Song with Me (25 songs from both hymnals in simplified form) ($14)

Seven UU Principles and Six UU Sources Activity Booklets (ages 3-6) ($3 for one set – the more expensive set you will see contains multiple copies for institutional use)

Other Resources:

The family pages in UU World (quarterly publication for members, current issue available online at uua.org, archived issues at www.uua.org/re/families/uu-world- family-pages) – as an example, the Fall 2016 issue includes an explanation of our fifth principle (democracy), a children’s story about leadership, and a parent reflection on taking your children to the polls.